Ireland’s success in securing a valuable conference for 2014 shows a nation that can compete — and win — at the highest level on the international stage
Ireland may be known internationally for its landscape which, as we all know, comes in 40 shades of green but it can also make waves when it comes to the hosting of innovative and green conferences.
In June 2011, Ireland beat China and Taiwan to become host country for the ICSB (International Council for Small Business) 2014 World Conference. The theme will be Green Business and Sustainability.
And, in keeping with the green theme, Ireland successfully won the bid despite the offer of a significant number of ‘greenbacks’ from the Chinese bid — €150,000 to be precise.
Key players
The key players on the Irish side of things are Conference Partners, an Irish PCO (professional conference organiser) and Thomas Cooney, President of the European arm of the ICSB — the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Cooney is also Academic Director of the Institute for Minority Entrepreneurship at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), one of Ireland’s largest and most innovative third-level institutions.
Nicola McGrane, Managing Director of Conference Partners, explains that in 2010 their researchers discovered that the International Council for Small Business conference, which is a conference on entrepreneurship, was accepting bids for 2014.
Interest in coming to Ireland
“They expressed an interest in coming to Ireland,” she says. “We then had to find a host. We met up with Tom Cooney of the Dublin Institute of Technology. He’s the President of the European Council for Small Business and also involved in the international council, so he was the perfect match really to bid for it. He’s quite a proactive guy and very interested in the profile of DIT so he did decide to put himself forward to bid for this conference.”
Conference Partners received the bid guidelines and put together a very professional bid document.
The bid guidelines featured a number of questions such as:
• Is the affiliate organised enough to work as a group to put on this mega event?
• Do you have the initial resources to get the work going?
• Do you have a location identified that is attractive and accessible for the attendees from a wide range of international destinations?
• Is the venue for the conference of sufficient size? Are all activities going to be held in the same site where the attendees have rooms?
• Can the World Conference hotel accommodate all of the anticipated attendees in suitable facilities?
• Can the host negotiate the best value for the attendees?
Proposals were to include the following details:
• Possible hotels (with descriptions of rates, etc)
• World Conference theme and sub themes
• General Conference schedule (with unusual activities highlighted)
• Advantages of location and area (transportation, tourist attractions, air travel convenience, in addition to advantages from an academic, research, government and policy standpoint)
The selection criteria helped to narrow it down to three countries — Ireland, China and Taiwan.
Previous host cities
Ohio in the USA hosted the 2010 conference while Stockholm in Sweden played host in 2011, where the 2014 bid presentation and selection took place. Wellington, New Zealand (2012), and Ponce, Puerto Rico (2013) also hosted the event.
The Irish team travelled to Stockholm to outline their credentials via power point and make their pitch to the board.
‘Ireland by the numbers’
Taiwan was the first in line, and explains McGrane, “they very much sold the destination.”
A lot of effort went into the Irish presentation, she says. “It was all very visual, not just selling Dublin but selling the whole concept of doing business in Ireland. That was our key message.
“The IBEC ‘Ireland by the numbers’ video went down a treat. They were so impressed with that. Then we went into what Ireland has to offer.”
Selling the destinations
This three-minute infographic-type video put together by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation gives fascinating facts about Ireland’s business prowess and credentials. “We did a lovely mix of how they could learn from what has happened in Ireland; doing business in Ireland; all the top multinationals being here for instance Google etc. We sold the destination’s creativity and innovation and we sold a very good social programme.
“We had to deliver all of that in 15 minutes which is very difficult.”
The theme chosen by the Irish team was ‘greening small business’ and to tie in with this Conference Partners had put together an innovative proposal and planned a creative presentation to showcase the plan in its best light.
Innovation and creativity
“What won the conference for us was what we showed on innovation and creativity in delivering the conference. Our theme was ‘greening small businesses’ so everything was delivered in a very creative way using technology to deliver the conference rather than printing anything.”
China was the final country to give their presentation and, says McGrane: “we really thought we’d lost it because their government offered €150,000 to fund the conference”.
The staggering bid included an offer to fly in the board of directors to China a year in advance and put them up in a five-star hotel; free registration, free accommodation and free flights for the conference and a registration fee of $240 — compared to the Irish fee of €450.
Ireland gets 10 votes out of 14
“So, to be honest, our hearts sank and we thought we’re not going to win it now. Funnily enough we won hands down. All China had presented was their financial offering; we had showed what the delegates would get from attending a conference in Ireland. Of a board of 14 we got 10 votes.”
The 2014 International Council for Small Business Conference will take place from 18-21 June 2014 at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. Approximately 1,000 delegates are expected.